Just the facts, ma'am

Way back in my early college years (circa 1970) while studying journalism, the importance of getting our facts correct was emphasized over and over again. You must get dates, you must get ages, you must get correct spellings - that was drummed into our heads over and over again. And if you didn't get a fact correct? Your punishment was to write an obituary on a currently living public official. This was when I first learned that newspapers and television stations kept all of this information constantly updated so when the person died, they were ready to go with the death notice with all of the pertinent facts already in hand. After being assigned to write three obituaries the first week, I made up my mind that it was never going to happen again and I became a dedicated fact checker and spelling checker.

As I go through various public records, newspaper articles and other resources in researching my family history, I discover that not everyone was so thorough in their fact checking. Names are misspelled, dates are not correct, family relationships are inaccurate. This makes the work of the family historian all the more challenging. One has to take a look at what was recorded and attempt to make as much sense of it as possible - constantly speculating, making inferences, eliminating alternate possibilities. I suppose that is what makes this hobby so addictive. You are always looking for just one more fact, one more piece of information.

William D Kelly - my great-great grandfather

So often, family history information shows up when and where you least expect it. I've been continuing my research on the family of Daniel Kelly of St. Paul, Minnesota and while scouring the old issues of the St. Paul Daily Globe, I came across an obituary notice of my great-great grandfather, William D. Kelly, who was a brother of Daniel Kelly.

William had lived in St. Paul, MN from the late 1850s to the mid 1860s and had been in Nebraska for nearly 30 years when he died. And yet, here is his obituary from the St. Paul, Minnesota newspaper, more than 400 miles away.

This death notice also confirms another piece of information for me. I knew that William, his wife, Mary, and their children took off on one of the westward expeditions from St. Paul led by Captain James Fisk. Daughter Mary Kelly Fitzgerald was about 12 years old at the time and described their journey in detail in a 1938 newspaper interview. Based upon Mary's descriptions and the printed newspaper reports and journals from the time, I had concluded that the Kelly family was on the Fisk expedition of 1864. That date is confirmed in William's obituary. It is so nice when you are able to find corroborating information from different sources!

Date of newspaper notice: February 21, 1896.

Daniel Kelly Candidate for County Commissioner

As I continue to focus on the Daniel Kelly family and descendants of St Paul, Minnesota, I have come across this newspaper clipping from the St. Paul Globe of September 14, 1902.

The article reads:

Daniel Kelly, candidate for renomination on the Democratic ticket for county commissioner, is one of St. Paul's respected citizens; came to St. Paul July 5, 1856, and shortly afterwards commenced contracting in company with his brothers in building roads, etc., and later in supplying the frontier forts and Indian agencies. This business was continued for some years and many times attended with great peril. He is in the real estate and insurance business, offices 418 Pioneer Press building. Mr. Kelly was secretary of old Hope No. 3 volunteer fire department for five years. He is a territorial and junior pioneer.

Mr. Kelly is now county commissioner, filling the unexpired term of the vanquished George B. Whitehorne. the honorable city council appointed Mr. Kelly last October. His efforts at all times are in behalf of the taxpayers and economy, with fairness in all matters. He is a man of great executive ability, diligent and active in all county manners, and with his knowledge in real estate values is of great importance.

Dr William D Kelly of St Paul Minnesota

Dr. William D. Kelly of St. Paul Minnesota

Dr. William D. (W.D.) Kelly was one of three brothers who were physicians in St. Paul, Minnesota in the time frame of 1890 - 1955. They were the sons of Daniel William Kelly in the previous post.

Dr. William Daniel Kelly (W. D. Kelly) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 1, 1864. He practiced medicine in St. Paul from about 1895 until at least 1938.


Dr. Kelly's listing in the St. Paul city directory
What doctor has office hours on Sunday these days?!?!

He was the son of Daniel W Kelly (hotel and saloon proprietor and later involved in real estate) and Mary Collins. He lived in several different residences on Summit Avenue in St. Paul.

From all of the census records I've reviewed, he never married. Siblings were Nellie Kelly, Mary-Minnie Zieta Kelly (wife of Congressman James Manahan), Daniel Kelly, Bridget Kelly, Ursula May "Bird" Kelly, Jane/Jenny Kelly, Dr. John V. Kelly, Dr. Paul H. Kelly, and Margaret Kelly.

Copy of obituary sought

I've discovered two death records in Ramsey County, Minnesota for a William D. Kelly - one is April 7, 1940 and the other is December 21, 1943. Hopefully those dates can be a guide to locating an obituary in one of the St. Paul newspapers. The "other" William D. Kelly who was a contemporary in the St. Paul vicinity was shown as a farmer in census records, so perhaps that can help differentiate from the W. D. Kelly I am researching.

Information on the location of the cemetery where he is buried would also be welcome. I would speculate it would likely be in a Catholic cemetery. I've accumulated quite a bit of information on this family that I would be glad to share with other researchers. Thank you to anyone who is able to assist with this request.

UPDATE: An obituary for Dr. Kelly has been discovered.

Many "New" Kelly Relatives . . .

As usual, I was spending my Sunday afternoon seeing if I could add some more branches to the family tree. I went back to work on some of the descendants of Daniel W. Kelly of St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the brother of my great-great grandfather, William D. Kelly, who also lived in St. Paul for a while. They were two of the sons of Kieran (or Keron) Kelly from Kilkenny, Ireland.

I was fortunate to find an obituary on one of Daniel's granddaughters, who died in 2007. It was an online obituary and I had to pay $2.99 for it. That turned out to be quite a bargain considering all of the Kelly kin I was able to add to my family tree. With direct descendants from Daniel, their spouses and in-laws, the total additions to the family tree already exceeds 50 "new" family members.

As these new discoveries brought the generations up to present day, I'm hopeful that I'll be in touch with some of the long lost relatives at some point. I want to respect their privacy, so I won't post their names or locations on this blog.

But - if you are a descendant of Daniel W. Kelly who was born in July 1837 in Ireland and his wife, Mary Collins, born about 1842 and died about 1894. I'd love to hear from you!

It's definitely a small world.